Monday, March 5, 2012

Welcome to the morning roundup. Here's a look at what's news in banking and finance this morning.

Wells Fargo goes international. Wells Fargo, long known for its U.S. focus, is making plans to expand its international presence, the Financial Times says. Right now, only 2 percent of the San Francisco bank's employees are overseas, but Wells wants to expand into 20 international markets.

Stress tests. Some of the 19 banks subject to the Federal Reserve's stress tests are fighting the government over how much of that information will be made public this month, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Fed has said it will release information about potential revenue and net losses in another economic downturn.

Speculators to get mortgage help. Speculators who bought multiple homes during the housing bubble will now get mortgage help from the Obama administration for the first time, Bloomberg reports. They'll now qualify for up to four workout programs through HAMP, provided they rent out the houses.

BofA fixes HAMP problems. The Treasury has restarted its incentive payments to Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase it withheld after determining the banks had improperly run the Home Affordable Modification Program, the Wall Street Journal reports. The government now says the banks have fixed the problems.